REPORT: Demand for 'traditional' Asian medicine is wreaking havoc on wild cats

World Animal Protection (WAP) has released a report documenting the heartbreaking suffering inflicted on big cats farmed throughout South Africa and Asia for the traditional Asian medicine industry.


“Trading Cruelty – how captive big cat farming fuels the traditional Asian medicine industry” describes how thousands of big cats are bred and killed every year only to be made into wines, capsules, gels, and balms — products that have never been proven to have any healing properties.


“Does the life of an animal mean nothing at all,” asks Dr. Jan Schmidt-Burbach, global wildlife advisor at WAP. “These big cats are exploited for greed and money – and for what? For medicine that’s never been proven to have any curative properties whatsoever. For that reason alone, it’s unacceptable. At each stage of their lives they suffer immensely – this makes it an absolute outrage.”

Read more... 

NEWSLINK: Cradley Heath legend Lew Foley 'released pet lions onto Malvern Hills'

Black Country eccentric Lew Foley – who kept a pride of lions at his Cradley Heath home – unleashed the beasts on the Malvern Hills, a close friend claims.

What’s more, Lew also liberated big cats for other people whose collections of downright dangerous pets flew in the face of the newly introduced Dangerous Wild Animals Act.

Lew’s friend, Norman Catton, has broken his silence about the secret Malvern Mission following last week’s appeal in our sister title, the Sunday Mercury.

We revealed how Channel 5 are considering a documentary on the man who regularly took his three lions walkies and even brought them to his local pub.

Norman, who now lives in Halesowen, was one of the few Lew confided in after the big cats disappeared from his back garden.

Read more... 

SIGHTING? UK: Fresh 'Surrey puma' alert after devoured deer carcass discovered in Redhill field

The discovery of a devoured deer carcass in a Redhill field and presence of a lynx-like creature in the area has reinvigorated the "Surrey puma" legend.

Cass Elbourne was walking her dog in the fields off Brambletye Park Road on Friday (July 12) when she spotted the grisly carcass.

The 55-year-old, from Redhill, said: "It made me think wow, it didn't look like it had been eaten by a fox, it was like it had been thrown into a lion's cage - it was completely devoured and stripped bare, it was like something you would see at the zoo.

Read more... 

CARL WRITES: Rewilding the Lynx - how might this affect cryptozoology?

Rewilding the Lynx. How might this affect cryptozoology? 

Lynx are likely already inhabiting areas of Britain! There have been numerous eyewitness reports, not to mention specimens collected (E.g. the 'Canadian' lynx shot in 1903 that's now housed at Bristol Museum, 'Lara the Lynx', captured alive in 2001, and 'Lillith the Lynx', unfortunately shot and killed in 2017). I myself have found physical evidence in the Forest of Dean that suggests at least one Felid, comparable to a lynx in both size and shape, was at least at that time residing in the forest. Escaped Lynx do turn up on occasion, and as there is growing evidence the genus is active in Britain, how might this eventually effect the reintroduced animals? As all 'British lynx' are likely either escaped or released animals, and not necessarily of the same species, I predict the possible presence of hybrid genetic markers occurring in the bloodlines of the reintroduced lynx following the rewilding program, and if so, this may present strong molecular data in favour of the animals former presence in the UK. 🐾🐾 

References:

• 'Canadian' Lynx (1903), Max Blake et al: https://www.academia.edu/11969894/Multidisciplinary_investigation_of_a_British_big_cat_a_lynx_killed_in_southern_England_c._1903 

• 'Lara the Lynx' (2001): http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/realcats/larathelynx.html 

• 'Lillith the Lynx' (2017): https://theconversation.com/fact-check-was-it-right-to-kill-lilith-the-escaped-lynx-87543

NEWSLINK: The huge cost of taking this popular travel selfie

Hordes of tourists who visit Asian hot spots are unknowingly supporting a cruel and unethically rare animal trade that breeds and kills lions and tigers on a massive scale.

World Animal Protection today released a report revealing thousands of big cats are being farmed in large-scale operations, many of which are marketed as conservation projects to unwitting travellers.


They are anything but, with one expert telling news.com.au it is “very unlikely, almost impossible” for any form of tourism involving wild animals to be operated ethically.


Instead, those cute lion and tiger cubs that make enviable selfie companions eventually grow up and are used for breeding before being slaughtered and sold as part of a booming multi-billion dollar traditional Asian medicine industry.


Read more... 

NEWSLINK: Circus tamer mauled to death by four tigers

A circus tamer has been killed by four tigers during a training exercise in Italy.

The 61-year-old man was attacked and mauled to death by the tigers who were part of his circus act in Triggiano, a small town near Bari (at the heel of Italy’s ‘boot’) on Thursday.

One of the tigers allegedly began to attack the trainer before three others joined in.
Reports suggest that the big cats played with his body for a while in their cage before paramedics and circus staff could eventually intervene.

The tamer, Ettore Weber, was taken to hospital immediately but later died due to his injuries.

The incident has sparked fresh calls for a ban on the use of animals in circuses.

Read more... 

NEWSLINK: Indian tigers in distress: Death of three outside Tadoba reserve exposes skewed laws, territorial crunch in safe havens

A tigress and her two cubs dying outside the boundary of Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra early this week, by several accounts an instance of revenge poisoning for having killed a village cattle, is actually a big optical illusion at play. The fact is the ghastly incident has as much to do with official apathy as with the booming tiger population all over India.
Add to this the lackadaisical legal system which is woefully inadequate to nail the culprits, a marked failure to pursue the case against the accused till their conviction and virtually letting them walk free. There are reasons why people are getting more emboldened to kill the big cats once they step outside the tiger reserve.


Read more...